I think we saw a hit from vintage frank tonite with his check swing duck snort. Not always good, but he once again got the job done.

WinningUgly!

05-21-2002, 10:23 PM

Originally posted by kevingrt
I think we saw a hit from vintage frank tonite with his check swing duck snort. Not always good, but he once again got the job done.
:hurt
"What are you talkin' about? I meant to do that!"

Garrison

05-21-2002, 11:32 PM

Three ribbies and he has batted well the last 3-4 games. I think he is finally getting back on track. Maybe the "trade Frank" people will finally fade away. He's going to be a huge asset to us this year. Just ride out the initial slump. He's getting there..... :)

MarqSox

05-22-2002, 12:37 AM

Originally posted by Garrison
Three ribbies and he has batted well the last 3-4 games. I think he is finally getting back on track. Maybe the &quot;trade Frank&quot; people will finally fade away. He's going to be a huge asset to us this year. Just ride out the initial slump. He's getting there..... :)

But ... six hours ago our team was bad bad bad!

baggio202

05-22-2002, 01:26 AM

Originally posted by MarqSox

But ... six hours ago our team was bad bad bad!

id call our team good...but very fragile...when we start out good we play to our expectations..when we cant get going in the first 3 innings..9 times out of 10 you can mail the loss...alot og times youre mailing in a big one...

another thing that makes us fragile is pitching depth...we dont have any and if god forbid a starter goes down to injury we are screwed....

as long as this team stays healthy and the young pitching improves or even just levels off we will win the division..but its still pretty fragile...

Bisco Stu

05-22-2002, 02:30 AM

Trade the greatest player in franchise history?

"Stuff and nonsense."

Nellie_Fox

05-22-2002, 02:43 AM

Originally posted by Bisco Stu
Trade the greatest player in franchise history?

&quot;Stuff and nonsense.&quot; Ever heard of Shoeless Joe Jackson?

chisoxfanatic

05-22-2002, 03:27 AM

Originally posted by kevingrt
I think we saw a hit from vintage frank tonite with his check swing duck snort. Not always good, but he once again got the job done.

I saw the hit and was thinking the same thing as Garrison! I think that the Hurt is coming out of *it* and starting to play like he did back in the middle 90s. We will need his leadership down the home stretch of this season, which is why we need to keep him.

Heather the Redbird

34 Inch Stick

05-22-2002, 10:31 AM

F the middle 90's talk. As long as he returns to playing like he did in 2000 when he was robbed of the MVP award.

Soxboyrob

05-22-2002, 11:02 AM

The talk about Frank looking like the Frank of the middle '90's above is actually really warranted. Frank's hitting mechanics of late have looked very much like Vintage Frank. It appears that he has just grabbed onto his old approach to hitting and begun to run with it. I first noticed it in the Thursday night game when Wright pitched the shutout.

All of a sudden, Frank is swinging w/ two hands again instead of one. He's attacking the pitch that is being thrown and doesn't appear to just be guessing. He's keeping himself closed longer into his swing instead of just blowing the hips and waist open before taking a one handed golf swing. He's taking pitches nicely again, instead of flailing around in the box whenever a pitch is off the inside corner. He's actually hit balls to right field with authority on several occasions since a week ago, something he didn't even make a habit of doing in his near-MVP season in 2000. The style he's currently using has yielded a much higher percentage of quality at-bats from the guy and, assuming he maintains this approach, should yield some very good numbers by year's end. I won't be surprised if I later hear that he's been privately working w/ Hriniak. In the end, it appears that he's getting a lot more "top hand" on his swing and effectively hitting the ball with more authority. This is what made the '90-'97 Frank such a success and able to hit rockets to all parts of the park, rather than being a guy that can only hit for power to center and left field, as has been the Frank from '98-'02. Let's hope this new hitting approach isn't a passing fancy.

Nellie_Fox

05-23-2002, 02:48 AM

Originally posted by Soxboyrob
All of a sudden, Frank is swinging w/ two hands again instead of one. ....I won't be surprised if I later hear that he's been privately working w/ Hriniak. In the end, it appears that he's getting a lot more &quot;top hand&quot; on his swing and effectively hitting the ball with more authority.
Actually, early in his career Frank was criticized a lot for releasing his top hand and following through with one hand. He did it through his successful years. And, Hriniak (and Lau before him) taught the top hand release to get more extension on the follow through.

All that having been said, Frank will be Frank.

Soxboyrob

05-23-2002, 10:49 AM

Originally posted by Nellie_Fox

Actually, early in his career Frank was criticized a lot for releasing his top hand and following through with one hand. He did it through his successful years. And, Hriniak (and Lau before him) taught the top hand release to get more extension on the follow through.

All that having been said, Frank will be Frank.

You're right...he used to release his top hand on the follow through but only after using it to help him pulverize the ball. What in the heck were people thinking in criticizing anything Frank was doing back then? Were they nuts? He looks like he's falling back into using just the one straight arm golf swing again, which will provide a lot of popups to the right side. Hoping he gets that old swing back again soon. It's very becoming on him.